C-47, Holes in Windows?

Gun ports?????

Dan Thompson (AMA 32873, EAA 60974, WB4GUK, GROL) remove POST in address for email

Photon Optical Ray Transmission Systems, sometimes called by the acronym PORTS.

Prior to Lyndon Johnson, they were called Wide Iris Natural Disbursers Of Waves Systems. I don't think an official military acronym was assigned. Un-officially we called them WINDOWS.

The small holes are the Velocity Enhanced Normalizing Temperature System. I don't recall an acronym.

Seriously, were they really just vents? It seems that in WWII the windows had these small circles in the center of them, but post war variants no longer had them. I suspected vents, but why did the civilian DC-3 of the pre-war era not have them, while the war time production of C-47 include them, then switch back after the war?

Tom

No need for gun ports before the war and no desire to remind paying passengers of prior actions after the war!

A vent, maybe ?

Don't recall what the windows looked like, but I do remember the R4D shuttle between Manila and Cubi Point being a hot summagun in which to bounce around..

See the photo, "C-47 Skytrain in Action", Aircraft Number 149, Signal Squadron Publications, page 47, upper left corner.

The shadows are backward for holes, but correct for an object mounted on (or in) the window.

OTOH some of the windows on "Spooky" indeed had guns sticking out the windows. That a/c might be a fun subject.

Lotsa details on the last of the military Gooney Birds in the book "Gunships", from Squadron/Signal pubs, stock number SS6032.

Cheers, Fred McClellan the dash plumber at mindspring dot com

Now that, was clever. w4jle, I am in awe of your prowess with a keyboard. helpful, witty, just downright good.

Just one of the differences between the DC-3 and the C-47.

DC-3s had rudimentary heating and air conditioning.

C-47s were cooled by fourteen window vents and 195 KIAS.

Cheers, Fred McClellan the dash plumber at mindspring dot com

Yeah Fred,

The pictures in the Squadron book are very helpful, except explaining the detail seen in the windows. They look to be more substantial than a vent, but rather unpractical for a gun port. I would think some idiot could shoot a fuel tank in the wing easily enough. Page 47 of my copy has a Soviet Li-2 in the upper left hand corner. Did you get the page wrong?

I built a plastic model before starting the Top Flight kit. There is a wealth of surface detail on a quality 1:48 scale model. They also did a good job of surface stencils marking inspection plates, etc. The molded side windows had very prominent circles in the center, which makes me wonder exactly their function.

I will post a photo at alt.binaries.radio-control of an interior shot showing the "ports". I got it off an internet search. They are quite thick with black rings. My best guess is a vent, but I can't imagine Uncle Sam being that concerned about comfort control at every seat.

I just remembered that one of the guys in our club was in the 101st during WWII. He would know!

Thanks for the reply,

Tom

Signal

mounted

I don't know what the holes were for, although I've certainly seen them refered to as gun ports in the past -- but here's a link to a collection of photos that includes a close-up of one, anyway:

-tih

I still think they were gun ports! All the pilots I knew that flew C47's are now gone.

Dan Thompson (AMA 32873, EAA 60974, WB4GUK, GROL) remove POST in address for email

Everyone who guessed (or knew) the holes in the windows were gun ports gets an "A+".

I have gotten confirmation from two reliable sources on the subject. The best source was a person who was in a C-47 over Europe several times during WWII. He had several trips where he departed the aircraft before it landed. He said the gun ports were always open to the outside air, and the rear door was removed during drops. The holes in the windows didn't matter as the draft from the missing door kept plenty of air moving through the whole compartment anyway.

Tom